Device for printing and coding tickets

ABSTRACT

A ticket marking machine for printing information on a ticket and also writing information on a magnetic recording media carried by the ticket. The machine has a printing or marking station for printing price and inventory information and a magnetic recording or marking station for writing the same and/or different information on a portion of the ticket carrying the magnetic recording media. The information magnetically recorded is accomplished in the preferred embodiment by a rotating magnetic head which writes the information on a concentric track.

Q United States Patent [151 3,662,362

Arciprete et al. 1 May 9, 1972 54] DEVICE FOR PRINTING AND CODING 2,750,880 6/1956 Johnston et a1 ..l01/66 TICKETS 2,889,769 6/1959 Goodbar et al... ...10l/66 2,867,167 1/1959 Mitchell .101/296 [72] Inventors: Genio R. Arciprete, Lexington; Adrian P. 3,120,178 2/1964 Lamers ..l01/90 Brokow, Woburn; Richard L. Dumais, 3,343,482 9/1967 Scott et al.. 101/90 Ashland; Richard F. Stucchi, Hudson, all 3,349,369 10/1967 Jensen ..340/174.1 of Mass. 3,360,774 12/1967 Smith et al.... .....340/174.1 3,465,349 9/1969 Schoeneman ..340/174.1 [73] Assignee: Dennison Manufacturing Company,

Fmmmglmmv Mass Primary Examiner-Bernard Konick [22] Filed: 9, 1968 Assistant E.\'aminer-Vincent P. Canney Attorney-Sewall P. Bronstein and Donald Brown [21] Appl. No.: 786,813

[57] ABSTRACT Related U.S. Application Data A ticket marking machine for printing information on a ticket 1 Continuation of 651L765 9, 1967 aban' and also writing information on a magnetic recording media donedcarried by the ticket. The machine has a printing or marking station for printing price and inventory information and a U.S. Cl. R, magnetic recording o marking tation for writing the ame 2 /72, 346/74 M and/or different information on a portion of the ticket carry- [51] Int. Cl. ..B41j 3/516 ing the magnetic recording media The information magneti [58] Field of Search ..179/ 100.2 A; 340/1741; cally recorded is accomplished in the preferred embodiment 346/74; 101/93 by a rotating magnetic head which writes the information on a concentric track. [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Rosenthal l0 1 20 Claims, 36 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMY 9 I972 SHEET 02 0F 25 rim M ELM PATENTEDMY 9 I972 SHEET 08 0F 25 ATTORNEYS PATENTEDHM 91912 SHEET 07 0F 25 V BY esmo RAROIPRETE 05/562. Worgadmfi 610224322 ATTORNEYS PATENTEDMAY 9 I972 sum 10 or 25 FIGS - MACHINE CYCLE MP CONTROL PULSE TIMING PULSE SIGNAL AMPLITUDE INVENTORS Q??? H R L. F 16. 6A ADRIAN P BROKAW BY GENIO R. ARCIPRETE pafi,yjammfl&awz%

ATTORNEYS P'A'IENTEBMAY 9 I972 sum 11 or 25 ATTORNEYS FIG. "7'

PATENTEMY sum 3,662,362

sum 1 or 2s INVENTORS RICHARD F. STUCCH! RICHARD L. DUMAIS ADRIAN PQBROKAW GENIO R. ARCIPRETE ATTORNEYS PATENTEDMAY 9 I972 sum 17 or 2 hwoqhm ozOommvc 6042b PmmEVO INVENTORS STUCCHI 60mg .523 K5238 OP mm jOmkzoo ATTORNEYS 

1. A system for marking information upon at least one control ticket carrying a magnetic recording media comprising at least two marking stations, means for advancing the ticket from one marking station to another, first marking means at one of the stations for marking said ticket with visually interpretable control information, and second marking means at another of the marking stations for magnetically recording on the magnetic recording media carried by said ticket non-visually interpretable and machine readable control information said second marking means adapted to rotate to record said information on a circular track of the magnetic recording media thereby to provide a control ticket carrying both visually interpretable information and non-visually interpretable machine readable information.
 2. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein the first mentioned marking means imprinted said ticket with merchandising information, and the second mentioned marking means applies the magnetic signal counterparts of at least a portion of said merchandising information to said ticket.
 3. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said ticket has a plurality of sections, the first mentioned marking means marks two of said sections, and the second mentioned marking means marks only one of the two sections.
 4. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said ticket has a front side and a reverse side, the first mentioned marking means marks the front side of said ticket, and the second mentioned marking means marks the reverse side of said ticket.
 5. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for marking said ticket with visually interpretable information is settable from a location that is remote from the position of the advancing means.
 6. A system as defined in claim 1 further including means, controllable from a position that is remote from the location of the advancing means, for collecting said ticket after it is advanced beyond said other marking station.
 7. A system as defined in claim 1 further including means for controlling the orientation of said ticket in the vicinity of one of the marking stations.
 8. A system as defined in claim 7 wherein the orientation control means operates in the vicinity of said station for marking tickets with non-visually interpretable and machine readable information.
 9. A system as defined in claim 8 wherein said station for marking tickets with non-visually interpretable and machine readable information comprises a recording station, the advancing means includes a feed bed operateD by a drive shaft, and a gripper finger on said bed for exerting tension to hold said tickets in place, and said orientation control means includes means operated by said drive shaft for relieving the tension exerted by said gripping fingers on said tickets at said recording station.
 10. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein the means for marking said ticket with non-visually interpretable and machine readable information comprises a magnetic recording unit.
 11. A system as defined in claim 10 wherein the advancing means includes a drive shaft which undergoes one revolution defining a machine cycle during which said ticket is advanced by one station over a feed bed, and said magnetic recording unit is raised and lowered during each machine cycle by a linkage mechanism that is cam operated from said drive shaft, said recording unit including a positioning spindle and a locating pin which enter apertures of said ticket as said recording unit is being raised, thereby to position said ticket before recording takes place.
 12. A system as defined in claim 10 wherein the recording information is a counterpart of said visually interpretable information and originates at the same source.
 13. A system as defined in claim 10 further including timing means driven by the advancing means for controlling the operation of said magnetic recording unit at intervals of time during which the likelihood of interference from the other operations of said system is reduced.
 14. A machine for printing information on a ticket and also magnetically recording information on the same ticket as the ticket passes through the machine on a machine bed thereof, the ticket carrying a magnetic recording media on a portion thereof, said machine including a plurality of marking stations, one of said stations adapted to print information on the ticket and the other of said stations having a recording unit adapted to apply a magnetic field to record information on the magnetic recording media carried by the ticket, means for advancing said ticket on said machine bed between and through said marking stations, said recording unit comprising a magnetic recording means adapted to rotate to apply information to said recording media in a circular track, and means for moving said recording unit and said magnetic recording means toward said ticket to record information on said ticket.
 15. A machine according to claim 14 in which said magnetic recording unit comprises a spindle adapted to enter into an aligning hole provided in said ticket in order to position the recording media of the ticket with respect to said magnetic recording means.
 16. A machine according to claim 15 in which gripper fingers are provided at the second mentioned marking station to hold the ticket in place while said magnetic recording means is rotating to apply information.
 17. A system for marking prescribed information upon at least one control ticket, comprising means for advancing the ticket from one marking station to another, means at one of the stations for marking said ticket with visually interpretable control information, and means at another of the marking stations for marking said ticket with non-visually interpretable and machine readable control information, thereby to provide a control ticket carrying both visually interpretable information and non-visually interpretable machine readable information, wherein the means for marking said ticket with non-visually interpretable and machine readable information comprises a magnetic recording unit, timing means driven by the advancing means for controlling the operation of said magnetic recording unit at intervals of time during which the likelihood of interference from other operations of said system is reduced, and wherein said advancing means includes a drive shaft for controlling the advance of tickets to the marking stations, and said timing means comprises a first disk mounted on said sHaft and having a peripheral aperture therein, a second disk mounted on said drive shaft and having a peripheral aperture therein, the peripheral aperture of said second disk being displaced from that of said first disk, first photoelectric means in the path of the peripheral aperature of said first disk for generating pulse signals, second photoelectric means in the path of the peripheral aperature of said second disk for generating pulse signals, the pulse signals from one of the photoelectric means being used to control said recording unit and the pulse signals from the other photoelectric means being used to control said other operations thereby to establish a fixed interval in time between the occurrences of the two sets of pulse signals.
 18. A system for marking prescribed information upon at least one control ticket, comprising means for advancing the ticket from one marking station to another, means at one of the stations for marking said ticket with visually interpretable control information, means at another of the marking stations for marking said ticket with non-visually interpretable and machine readable control information thereby to provide a control ticket carrying both visually interpretable information and non-visually interpretable machine readable information, means for controlling the orientation of said ticket in the vicinity of one of the marking stations wherein the orientation control means operates in the vicinity of said station for marking tickets with non-visually interpretable and machine readable information, wherein said station for marking tickets with non-visually interpretable and machine readable information comprises a recording station, the advancing means includes a feed bed operated by a drive shaft, a gripper finger on said bed for exerting tension to hold said tickets in place, said orientation control means includes means operated by said drive shaft for relieving the tension exerted by said gripper finger on said tickets at said recording station wherein both sides of said feed bed includes gripper fingers to hold said tickets in place, said fingers being in the form of sections that span several stations of said bed, each of said fingers in the vicinity of said recording station having a lower spring flange mounted at a downward angle so that an upper component of thrust applied to the flange will produce an upward movement of the associated finger, first and second pressure release pins displaceably mounted in said bed on each side thereof in the vicinity of said recording station, and a linkage mechanism extending from said drive shaft for operating said pressure release pins for a pre-determined portion of each machine cycle before magnetic recording is to take place.
 19. A system for marking prescribed information upon at least one control ticket, comprising at least two marking stations, means for advancing the ticket from one marking station to another, marking means at one of the stations for marking said ticket with visually interpretable control information, means at another of the marking stations for marking said ticket with non-visually interpretable and machine readable control information thereby to provide a control ticket carrying both visually interpretable information and non-visually interpretable machine readable information wherein the advancing means advances said ticket non-linearly over a feed bed and includes a reciprocatable slide carrying pawls for engaging said ticket, a slotted timing plate mounted upon said slide, a photocell circuit mounted with respect to said slotted plate thereby to generate a timing signal for linear recording.
 20. A system for recording information on a ticket carrying a magnetic recording media, said system comprising a plurality magnetic recording means positioned at a recording station through which said ticket is adapted to be moved, a reciprocatable slide carryiNg pawl means for moving said ticket through said recording station and a slotted timing plate mounted upon said slide, said slide adapted to move the plate past photocell means which are adapted to generate timing signals for said recording means. 